DP's Best of 2008 Awards

Top 6 Gigs of 2008
1) Birchmere – Alexandria, VA 2/23, opening for Christine Lavin. The Birchmere is one of the premier venues for singer/songwriters in the country, and it was a great honor to play there, as well as to be asked by Christine Lavin to open the show. The staff and hospitality were first rate, and playing in front of a 300+ listening room audience is a rare treat in this business.
2) Magpie House Concerts – Salt Lake City, UT 2/8. A beautiful drive through snow covered mountains brought me from Las Vegas up to Salt Lake City. I had met Grant, the host of the series at the 2007 Folk Alliance Conference, and had always wanted to come back to play in Salt Lake City (I hadn’t been there since 1996). The living room was absolutely packed for the show, only a couple feet between myself and the front row of seats. It was one of the most folk friendly audiences I had ever performed for. Everyone was hanging on every word, and the whole night couldn’t have gone better. Even the pregame meal of Memphis-style barbecue was better than I could have expected. (I didn’t expect much out of barbecue in Utah, but it was the real deal)
3) Vanilla Bean Café- Pomfret, CT 6/7 with Jud Caswell. This night was a perfect example of what I love about being a touring singer/songwriter. Vanilla Bean Café is a perfect setting for acoustic music, tucked away in a very small town in the northeast corner of Connecticut. Jud and I had played 4 gigs together in the span of 2 weeks, and we finally had our act together for this show, we had figured out how to play on each other’s songs, and if I do say so myself, we sounded pretty darn good. Despite the very small audience, I have rarely had a better time performing.
4) Chapel Meeting House – Foxborough, MA 10/18 – A very quaint little venue run by a nonprofit organization, they only hold a couple of concerts per year, the room was filled nearly to capacity on a cold October night. The audience was very fun to play for, and I had a very good time making Bill Belichik jokes throughout the night.
5) Moore Music In The House – Rockville, MD with Jud Caswell 5/31. Scott and Paula Moore are among my very favorite people in the folk music community, and it was quite a pleasure to play at their house concert series. Despite having to listen to Jud, the audience seemed to have a great time:) The greater DC area has a pretty good number of venues and house concerts, and it was good to see several other concert hosts and old friends in the audience.
6) Music In The Burbs – Bloomfield Hills, MI 5/10. The last gig of a weekend swing through Indiana/Michigan, Jay and Renee were great hosts, and they had the largest crowd since they began doing house concerts. The room was very well set up for house concerts, and lent itself well to a fun night.

Best Tour of 2008 - Las Vegas/Los Angeles/Utah, February 2008. My favorite tour of the year only had a little bit to do with the concerts I played. The #2 concert of the year, Magpie House Concerts was part of this tour, but the highlights were hanging out in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. I flew into Las Vegas and spent a couple days there, playing a nice concert series called Garage-Ma-Hall. The first night I was in Vegas, I went to see Stomp! Out Loud. That is written up later in this blog. Then, I played a little blackjack in between eating pizza at New York, New York, and watching the lion tamers at the MGM Grand. After the first Vegas gig, I drove to LA, where I watched the Super Bowl with Ryan Brown. It was great to see Ryan, as well as watching one of the best football games you will ever see. Later in the trip, I got to spend some time with Rob Seals as well. And though it wasn't quite as exciting as our 2007 trip to Disneyland, Ryan, Rob and I did have a musicians day out at In 'N' Out Burger! (which is very close to Disneyland in excitement level). After LA, I drove back to Vegas and spent a few more days playing blackjack and seeing some comedy shows, before heading off to Utah for the Magpie concert.

CD of the Year – Though it actually came out in 2007, I didn’t get it until 2008, Andy Gullahorn’s ‘Reinvent The Wheel’ is fantastic. A very close 2nd is Joe Crookston’s ‘Able Baker Charile & Dog’. If you are a fan of acoustic singer/songwriters, you should definitely check out both of these artists, www.andygullahorn.com and www.joecrookston.com

Hosts of the Year – Sam and Erin Hensley, Washington, DC. The weekend of the Birchmere gig in Alexandria, VA, I stayed for 4 nights with my friends Sam and Erin Hensley. Sam a very talented singer/songwriter, (certainly more talented than he turned out to be at NCAA Football on the Sony Playstation). Sam booked me a couple additional gigs in the area, at which he performed as well, and they were great shows. Sam and Erin had the place stocked with Vanilla Coke before I arrived, took me to some very good restaurants (even the Steak & Egg was worth a visit), and even stopped to pick me up some Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food after the Birchmere gig, so I could celebrate the great gig with a couple thousand wonderful calories. I have stayed at a LOT of places over the past 15 years and 400,000 miles, and Villa de Hensley was definitely one of the better experiences. (I’m sure the dominance of DP-led Auburn in the NCAA Football didn’t hurt my opinion of the place.)

Rental Car of the Year – In late May, I toured in Northern Virginia and Maryland, flying into Reagan Int’l Airport in DC. I have been getting stuck with a lot of PT Cruisers over the past couple years, but someone at Hertz was informed as to the fact that the amazing, world famous Dave Potts was renting a car, and they gave me a Mustang. Finally a car that could nearly match my level of awesomeness. (I am pretty sure that’s a real word)

Movie review of the Year – I’ve never heard a movie summed up so well as this; While waiting in line to buy tickets to Batman, There were a couple of college guys in front of us talking about the movies that were playing. One guy asked his friend if he intended to go see Mamma Mia! He summed up all of my deepest feelings about the idea of seeing that movie with his response.. He said, "Mamma Mia! Did you see the previews? I wanted to kill myself." Well said college guy.

Best 2nd Half of a Play – I actually attended several plays (as in live theater, like real people on the stage, you know, no editing or overdubs or re-do’s). My wife and I went to see ‘Wicked’ in Atlanta, we had both heard wonderful things about the show for years. For the first half of the show, I was beyond confused as to what the fuss was all about. It was OK I guess, but OK is the highest rating I could give it. However, just before the break and for the rest of the performance, it really picked up steam, and by the end I could say I was very impressed, and was very glad we went, even though it always against my better judgement to dress up.

Best stage performance of the year – In addition to several plays, I saw Stom Out Loud! In Las Vegas. It is a version of the touring show, Stomp, which I had always wanted to see. It was fantastic, and I will probably go see the show again if I have a chance.

Movie of the Year – In the most lopsided vote in movie of the year history, Batman:The Dark Knight is an easy choice. I only saw it 4 times in the theater, so I am glad it is being re-released prior to the Oscar’s.

A great Christmas Tree

Just got this photo sent to me yesterday. As far as I know, it is the first DP Christmas Tree Ornament. Thanks to Mark in Mobile, AL for including me on his tree that has over 500 ornaments from places he's visited and people he's met.

The DP Best of 2008 Awards will be posted tomorrow night!

DP takes over YouTube

I'm in the process of putting some new videos up on youtube. There's about a dozen videos up there now, and in the next week, I should have 5-6 more up. There's a bunch of songs from a show I did in Goshen, IN earlier this year. I am putting in some songs from a show in Pensacola, FL in 2004, and a Bluebird Cafe performance from 2003. I am working on getting a hold of some other videos from shows in the past couple years as well. Here's one from the Pensacola show;

Big venues/small venues

I've been thinking about my Top 5 gigs of the year for 2008, always something I enjoy doing, to look back over the past year and pick out my most enjoyable concerts. It seems like it should be a no-brainer for this year. I had the opportunity to play at the famed Birchmere Concert Hall in Alexandria, VA, which is by all accounts on of the top venues in the country. I opened for Christine Lavin, who is one of the most recognized folk singers, and thanks to her, I played for an audience of around 300 people. It was quite an honor to play at the Birchmere, and even more of an honor to be asked to open for Christine.
But, does my music, and my stage persona fit at a large venue like that? I used to think, as most musicians do, that the definition of success was how high up the ladder you got, and that record deals and filling large theaters was the ultimate goal. It has become very clear to me this year that is not what I am meant for. Even if that were a possibility (which it probably is not), I am a small venue, small crowd artist. The current folk singer/songwriter scene, mostly played out in house concerts and small venues throughout the country just doesn't mesh with the big business glitz of Nashville country acts, or commercial pop/rock artists.
To be clear, The Birchmere, and venues that are large but still cater to acoustic singer/songwriters are not in the previous category, they are great venues, and the larger acts of this scene, such as Christine Lavin, John Gorka, David Wilcox, etc need a place to play.
But, there is no way a large venue can match the feel of a house concert or small venue (100 people or less), and for grass roots artists such as myself, there really is no better venue than the intimacy of a small room where the interaction with the audience really is what drives the show.

For those of you that are fans of acoustic music, where you do like to go to hear singer/songwriters? Do you prefer the local coffeehouse, or the monthly concert series held at a community center or church, or house concerts, or larger venues like clubs or theaters?

One month to work on the DP Best of 2008 Awards

My favorite journal/blog entry of every year, is always the much anticipated DP 'Best of' the Year Awards. The nomination process can now begin, as this is what I spend most of the month of December doing.
I am opening the floor to suggestions for new awards categories. If you have anything you'd like to see included in this year awards, speak now!

Someone in Boston had a great weekend

Didn't quite work out for the Red Sox, but I had a great weekend tour in the Boston area.
I flew in Friday morning, and drove up to Topsfield, north of Boston. I played a great house concert series, hosted by Ashara who does a great job with the series. Making the show even better was being joined by Jenny Goodspeed, who some of you may remember as the harmony vocalist on my 'South Side Diner' and 'County Line Road' CD's. She is also a great singer/songwriter, and she did a wonderful opening set. During my set, she joined me for harmonies on '$12.99', 'One Mississippi', 'You're All The Stars I Need' and 'How Will You Remember Me.'
On Saturday, I headed down to Foxboro, Mass, home of the Patriots. I had one of my more enjoyable concerts in recent memory at the Chapel Meeting House. It was a beautiful little building, and pretty well full with about 40-50 people, and 5 different kinds of pie! I had a great time performing, making Bill Belichik jokes and eating desserts...The show was taped (doesn't everyone get taped when they go to Foxboro) for a local cable channel, and I'm hoping to get a copy of the show, and if I do, I'll be able to post some songs on the website.

Sunday, I met up with my friend Jud Caswell in Franklin, Mass for a house concert. Jud played some new songs which were great to hear, and we spent some time after the show talking about the state of the travelling singer/songwriter scene today and how it impacts us. I may get into some of that later.
After the concert, I went to Pizzeria Uno and polished off a deep dish pizza, which is always a good idea.

The pictures are from the Kick Off Your Shoes House Concert in Topsfield, Mass with Jenny Goodspeed, photos taken by Jenny's husband Erik Hofner.

Political songs, what to do with them?

I've had an interesting situation come up recently, and without going into too much detail about it, I will talk about the questions it has brought up, and I'd love to hear any feedback any of you might have.

If you're not aware, the folk singer/songwriter "scene" that encompasses most of my concerts, fanbase, fellow artists, etc is very issues based, a lot of songwriters share their political and social views through their music. Often times, I disagree with the views being expressed in songs written and performed by my peers. I quite often appear on stage with other performers, doing co-bills, in-the-round concerts, etc. And, unavoidably, sometimes an artist will perform a song that offends some members of my audience. Keep in mind here that I am talking about artists who have just a few songs of strong political/social opinion, and for the most part have a catalog of songs similar to mine, and with no particular viewpoint.

I wonder if it is in any way my responsibility to distance myself from views that I diasgree with, and those that may upset some of my fans. I know I have fans on both sides of the political spectrum, and have different views on social issues from many performers that I know and like.

I have always had the opinion that a persons views on these type of issues, so long as they are not a majority of their songs, and only shared sparingly, don't bother me at all, whether I agree or disagree. But, I realize many people can take a song very seriously, or really feel the need to distance themselves from someone they have a fundemental difference of opinion from. Think about what happened to the Dixie Chicks when they made comments about Bush a few years ago. They were basically thrown out of country music. I personally could care less what Natalie Maines feels about politics. Good music is good music. Obviously, several hundred thousand other people who stopped buying their records couldn't shrug it off as easily.

So, the question I would pose and appreciate feedback on is this; If I am appearing on stage, either opening for, doing an in-the-round performance with, or otherwise on the same bill as a musician that I know has songs that I disagree with, and that some of my fans may be offended by, should I refuse to appear with that artist? Or, should I feel the need to say anything about it? What is my obligation in that sort of situation?

And, let me pose this question to you as a listener; If an artist has 25 songs that you like and 1 or 2 songs that you strongly disagree with , do those 1 or 2 songs change your opinion of the artist, or the other 25 songs that you like?
Let me know if you have any thoughts on my ramblings. As always, thanks for listening.